Ancient Geeks

We continue our coverage of the classic era of the X-Men with John Byrne's iconic run on the series. Some of the biggest moments in not just the X-Men, but comics in general, happened. The tragedy of the Dark Phoenix saga! The horror of Days Of Future Past! We also talk about why John Byrne is one of the best comic artists ever, why he was perfect for the X-Men, and how he captured the attention and admiration of our younger selves...

In the mid-70s, the X-Men were a largely forgotten team of teenage mutants, relegated to the back issue section of the comics store. With the release of Giant-Sized X-Men #1, that all changed. The revamped X-Men were a powerful mix of old and new that became the colossus of comics, taking the world of super-heroes by storm! 

Journey back with Steven and Tom to this first wave of X-mania, during the initial collaboration between Chr...

Geek culture and schlocky variety shows collide! When you watched Star Wars or read superhero comics, you probably didn't think, "Why isn't there more singing and dancing? And how about some comics doing schtick?" But the producers of 1970s TV variety shows thought that would be a good idea. It wasn't, and in this episode, we show you why.

Of course, we talk about the infamously cringey Star Wars Holiday Special...But there's so mu...

During the 1950s and 1960s, a combination of big ideas from science fiction, Cold War paranoia, and the sheer coolness of monsters inspired a generation of monster movies. Godzilla was only the start. Thrill at the rampages of giant atomic mutations (ants, birds, spiders, you name it), ready to wipe humanity from the face of the earth! Shiver as alien invaders walk among us! Plunge into the unknown corners of the world, and the mys...

Our first real episode discussed how Batman in the 60s and 70s played a big role in our early geek lives. Now, we jump ahead to the 80s and 90s, a golden age of Batman in the comics and on the screen. In now-classic series like The Dark Knight Returns, Batman: Year One, A Death In The Family, Batman: The Cult, the writers and artists pulled out all the stops. Batman in a dystopian future! Robin dies! Batman loses his mind, repeated...

Put on your polyester shirts and bellbottom jeans, because it's time for Steven and Tom to journey back to the 1970s, when superhero TV shows were popular. You'd think that we would have been excited to see our beloved comic book characters translated to the small screen...But the results were mixed, at best. Wonder Woman, The Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man, Captain America, The Six Million Dollar Man, and even Doctor Strange -- they'...

Dragons and beholders and owlbears, oh my! During our geek formative years, we both discovered Dungeons & Dragons, and were instantly hooked. A sandbox where we have freedom to create our own heroic fantasy characters and stories, and we get to roll really cool-looking dice as well? Sign us up! In this episode, we cover the early years of D&D, from the white box edition through the first edition of Advanced Dungeons & D...

The Empire strikes back, and so do we! In this episode, we discuss the rest of the original Star Wars trilogy. What was it like to await another Star Wars movie after the original smash hit? How did The Empire Strikes Back exceed expectations? Why were we less impressed with Return of the Jedi?

It's all here. Characters with actual arcs. High-paced excitement. Fantastic practical effects. The biggest plot twist ever. An expanding u...

Star Wars, nothing but Star Wars...Steven and Tom re-visit the very, very first Star Wars movie. When it landed in the summer of 1977, it had an asteroid side impact on our brains, popular culture, and moviemaking. Come with us to the mall theater on opening day! Hear all the great things that practically knocked us out of your seats on that first showing! Listen to us talk about what it was like to see our friends and family follo...

We were both early Doctor Who fans, back when the iconic Doctor was a British eccentric with a long scarf, a floppy hat, a pocket full of Jelly Babies, and a robot dog as a sidekick. Or was he an older gentleman wearing a puffy shirt, driving an antique roadster? Or a grumpy, grandfatherly figure who could be kind of a jerk? We discuss the first five incarnations of the Doctor, his companions, and his antagonists. This was the Doct...

Make mine Marvel! In this episode, we talk about discovering Marvel Comics, what distinguished Marvel from DC comics. We focus on our first favorite characters, the Fantastic Four and Thor, which in many ways were the most over-the-top, cosmic of Marvel's stable of superheroes. 

From the down-to-earth family dynamics of the Fantastic Four, to the vast vistas of Asgard and outer space, it's all here. Plus, we describe how we grow to...

Classic science fiction writers were essential parts of our early geek lives. The influential SF writers from the 60s, 70s, and early 80s were almost too many to list! Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein, Le Guin, Zelazny, Ellison, Bradbury, Herbert, Dick, and countless others...In novels and short stories, they filled our brains with big ideas, and left us wanting for more! 

In future episodes, we'll talk about many of these authors in great...

We talked about Tolkien last episode, and now we're on a fantasy roll! We discuss the classic fantasy writers we discovered in our youth: The Arthurian legends, Roger Zelazny, Michael Moorcock, Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, Piers Anthony, Poul Anderson, Ursula Leguin, and many more. It was a time when sword and sorcery dominated the genre, but there were lots of other good fantasy stories to be read, too.

Fantasy fiction in the 6...

We're talkin' Tolkien! Steven and Tom discuss J.R.R. Tolkien, author of Farmer Giles of Ham, as well as lesser-known works like The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Follow us as we followed Bilbo and Frodo through these unforgettable, iconic books.

Come for the spectacularly detailed world-building and epic quests! Stay for singing elves, bad animated adaptations, the good live action movies, calendars, pirate editions of the trilogy,...

Space, the final frontier...

These words started our lifelong love of Star Trek. In this episode, we talk about our first stage of that love affair, the original series (TOS).

The optimism about the future! The exploration of the unknown! The big ideas! The thinly-veiled social commentary! The original crew! The TOS best episodes! The TOS worst episodes! William Shatner at a jeans store opening! It's all here. 

Star Trek was pivota...

Look! Up in the sky! It's the Superman episode!

Last time, we covered the Caped Crusader in the 60s and 70s last time. This episode, we talk about Superman in the same time period, on TV and in the comics.

See a man dangling from a zeppelin, in glorious black and white on The Adventures of Superman! Thrill as Superman fights Luthor, then he becomes a caveman, Jimmy turns into porcupine, and Lois demands his execution! Learn why, in...

WHAM! SOCK! POW!

We were big fans of the Caped Crusader in the 1960s and the 1970s, starting with both the TV show and the comics. In this episode, we focus on Batman during this pivotal era, when the TV show became hugely popular, and the comics started to grow out of their early Silver Age goofiness. You'll hear about what made us Batfans, the weird process of having to schedule your time around a TV show, the jaw-dropping greatn...

It all starts here! Welcome to Ancient Geeks, a podcast about the birth of geek culture, from two older geeks whose younger selves were there at the beginning.

In this inaugural episode, Tom Grant and Steven Taylor share their origin stories. Watching Batman, Star Trek, cartoons, and monster movies as kids. Reading classic science fiction and fantasy books by Tolkien, Burroughs, Asimov, and more. Being there at the premiere of Star...